# Free Software Supporter Issue 127, November 2018 Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 194,208 other activists. That's 635 more than last month! ### LibrePlanet 2019 Call for Sessions deadline extended until Nov 9th *From October 23* Have you submitted a talk for [LibrePlanet 2019](https://libreplanet.org/2019/) yet? [The Call for Sessions (CfS)](https://my.fsf.org/lp-call-for-sessions) has been extended until Friday, November 9th, 2018 at 10:00 EST (14:00 UTC). Visit and log in to submit your session. LibrePlanet is an annual conference hosted by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) that explores the intersection of technology and social justice through a variety of talks and activities. Every year, LibrePlanet brings together developers, policy experts, activists, hackers and end users to learn new skills, share accomplishments, and face challenges concerning computing freedom as a community. LibrePlanet 2019's theme is “Trailblazing Free Software” and will be held on Saturday and Sunday, March 23rd and 24th in the Greater Boston Area, MA. * ## TABLE OF CONTENTS * FSF job opportunity: Program manager * Announcing keynote speakers for LibrePlanet -- and don't miss your chance to give a talk * FSF statement on Microsoft joining the Open Invention Network * Introducing our new associate member forum! * DMCA exemptions granted but overall process still broken * Apple's new proprietary software locks will kill independent repair on new MacBook Pros * Every minute for three months, GM secretly gathered data on 90,000 drivers' radio-listening habits and locations * Thank you for participating in International Day Against DRM 2018! * Innovative biography of RMS returns to GNU Press Shop * Single-board computer guide updated: Free software is winning on ARM! * The completion of Sonali's Outreachy internship work on the Free Software Directory * GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) 6.5 released * Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory * LibrePlanet featured resource: Community Toolkit * GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: 8 new GNU releases! * GNU Toolchain update: Support GNU Toolchain * Richard Stallman's speaking schedule and other FSF events * Thank GNUs! * Take action with the FSF! View this issue online here: Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your Web site. * Subscribe: * Widget: Miss an issue? You can catch up on back issues at . ### El Free Software Supporter está disponible en español. Para ver la versión en español haz click aqui: **Para cambiar las preferencias de usuario y recibir los próximos números del Supporter en español, haz click aquí:** Le Free Software Supporter est disponible en français. Pour voir la version française cliquez ici: **Pour modifier vos préférences et recevoir les prochaines publications du Supporter en français, cliquez ici:** O Free Software Supporter está disponível em Português. Para ver a versão em Português, clique aqui: **Para alterar as preferências do usuário e receber as próximas edições do Supporter em Português, clique aqui:** # ### FSF job opportunity: Program manager *From October 10* The FSF seeks a motivated and talented Boston-based individual to be our full-time program manager. Reporting to the executive director, the program manager co-leads our campaigns team. This position develops and promotes longer-term resources and advocacy programs related to increasing the use of free software and expanding and advancing the free software movement. The program manager plays a key role in external communications, fundraising, member engagement, and special events. Ideal candidates have at least three to five years of work experience with project management, fundraising, events management, and nonprofit program management. Proficiency, experience, and comfort with professional writing and media relationships preferred. Because the FSF works globally and seeks to have our materials distributed in as many languages as possible, multilingual candidates will have an advantage. For more information on how to apply, see the link below. * ### Announcing keynote speakers for LibrePlanet -- and don't miss your chance to give a talk *From October 18* We're proud to announce the 2019 LibrePlanet keynote speakers: Debian Project contributor Bdale Garbee, free software activist Micky Metts, physician Tarek Loubani, and FSF founder and president Richard Stallman, all of whom are trailblazers of free software in their own right. * * ### FSF statement on Microsoft joining the Open Invention Network *From October 10* Microsoft's announcements on October 4th and 10th, that it has joined both LOT and the Open Invention Network (OIN), are significant steps in the right direction, potentially providing respite from Microsoft's well-known extortion of billions of dollars from free software redistributors. These steps, though, do not by themselves fully address the problem of computational idea patents, or even Microsoft's specific infringement claims. With these limitations in mind, FSF welcomes the announcements, and calls on Microsoft to take three additional steps to continue the momentum toward a complete resolution. * ### Introducing our new associate member forum! *From October 15* We hope that you find this forum to be a great place to share your experiences and perspectives surrounding free software and to forge new bonds with the free software community. If you're a member of the FSF, head on over to to get started. You'll be able to log in using the Central Authentication Service (CAS) account that you used to create your membership. Participation in this forum is just one of many [benefits](https://www.fsf.org/associate/benefits) of being an FSF member -- if you're not a member yet, we encourage you to [join today](https://my.fsf.org/join), for as little as $10 per month, or $5 per month for students. * ### DMCA exemptions granted but overall process still broken *From October 26 by Kit Walsh and Mitch Stolz* The US Library of Congress, through its subsidiary, the Copyright Office, granted several new exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Section 1201 makes it illegal to circumvent the computer code that prevents copying or modifying in most software-controlled products -- which nowadays includes everything from refrigerators and baby monitors to tractors and smart speakers. EFF and the FSF have fought a years-long battle against anti-consumer DMCA abuse, since the statute on its face gives manufacturers, tech companies, and Hollywood studios outsized control over the products we own. * * ### Apple's new proprietary software locks will kill independent repair on new MacBook Pros *From October 4 by Jason Koebler* iFixit has found that Apple has a “kill switch” in the new MacBook Pros. While these switches are not yet operational, when they work, they will effectively prevent independent and third-party repair on 2018 MacBook Pro computers, according to internal Apple documents obtained by *Motherboard*. This is only one of many egregious [attacks on user freedom](https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/apple-app-store-anniversary-marks-ten-years-of-proprietary-appsploitation) committed by Apple. * ### Every minute for three months, GM secretly gathered data on 90,000 drivers' radio-listening habits and locations *From October 23 by Cory Doctorow* GM tracked the choices of radio programs in its "connected" cars, minute by minute. GM did not get users' consent, but it could have got that easily by sneaking it into the contract that users sign for some digital service or other. A requirement for consent is effectively no protection. The cars can also collect lots of other data: listening to you, watching you, following your movements, tracking passengers' cell phones. *All* such data collection should be forbidden. But if you really want to be safe, we must make sure the car's hardware cannot collect any of that data. * ### Thank you for participating in International Day Against DRM 2018! *From October 4* Hundreds of you around the world took action on the International Day Against DRM (IDAD): going out into your campuses, communities, and around the Web, and sharing your opposition to how Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) restricts your freedom as a user of software and media. The 17 participating organizations took their own actions, creating videos, releasing reports, and writing articles. Here in Boston, we visited the Apple Store and talked with shoppers about their digital rights and how Apple devices abuse those rights using DRM. * ### Innovative biography of RMS returns to GNU Press Shop *From October 31* After a period of unavailability, the GNU Press Shop is proud to once again offer *Free As In Freedom (2.0)*, the innovative biography of Free Software Foundation founder and president Richard M. Stallman. The original biography was written by Sam Williams in 2002, but this version is revised by Stallman himself -- while preserving Williams's viewpoint, it includes factual corrections and extensive new commentary by Stallman, as well as new prefaces by both authors written for the occasion. * ### Single-board computer guide updated: Free software is winning on ARM! *From October 18 by Alyssa Rosenzweig* The Free Software Foundation maintains [a list of system-on-chip families](https://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/single-board-computers), sorted by their freedom status. Free software is constantly improving, and today, more and more boards are usable with free software. The revised list includes much more detail than its predecessors, groups boards by system-on-chip rather than brand name for concision, documents previously-unidentified freedom flaws, and of course describes progress liberating the remaining elements. * * ### The completion of Sonali's Outreachy internship work on the Free Software Directory *From October 12 by Sonali Singhal* After much work, I finally completed the upgrade of the [Free Software Directory](https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page) from the previous long term support version of MediaWiki, 1.27, to the current one, 1.31, which was released shortly after my internship started. I also made some general improvements, including downloading the Semantic MediaWiki extensions using composer; removing deprecated code in `LocalSettings.php`; and more. * ### GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) 6.5 released *From October 26 by the GCC Team* The GNU project and the GCC developers are pleased to announce the release of GCC 6.5. This release is a bug-fix release, containing fixes for regressions in GCC 6.4 relative to previous releases of GCC. * ### Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects. To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on irc.freenode.org, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Freenode is accessible from any IRC client -- Everyone's welcome! The next meeting is Friday, November 2, from 12pm to 3pm EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC). Details here: * ### LibrePlanet featured resource: Community Toolkit Every month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help. For this month, we are highlighting the Community Toolkit, which provides information about software that can be used by nonprofits, community groups, and individuals to advance the cause of free software. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource. * Do you have a suggestion for next month's featured resource? Let us know at . ### GNU Spotlight with Mike Gerwitz: 8 new GNU releases! (as of October 25, 2018): * [gama-2.01](https://www.gnu.org/software/gama/) * [gcc-6.5.0](https://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/) * [gvpe-3.1](http://software.schmorp.de/pkg/gvpe.html) * [help2man-1.47.8](https://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/) * [mes-0.18](https://www.gnu.org/software/mes/) * [mtools-4.0.19](https://www.gnu.org/software/mtools/) * [parallel-20181022](https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/) * [units-2.18](https://www.gnu.org/software/units/) For announcements of most new GNU releases, subscribe to the info-gnu mailing list: . To download: nearly all GNU software is available from , or preferably one of its mirrors from . You can use the URL to be automatically redirected to a (hopefully) nearby and up-to-date mirror. A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please see if you'd like to help. The general page on how to help GNU is at . If you have a working or partly working program that you'd like to offer to the GNU project as a GNU package, see . As always, please feel free to write to us at with any GNUish questions or suggestions for future installments. ### GNU Toolchain update: Support GNU Toolchain Donate to support the GNU Toolchain, a collection of foundational freely licensed software development tools including the [GNU C Compiler collection (GCC)](https://gcc.gnu.org/), the [GNU C Library (glibc)](https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/libc.html), and the [GNU Debugger (GDB)](https://sourceware.org/gdb/). * ### Richard Stallman's speaking schedule For event details, as well as to sign-up to be notified for future events in your area, please visit . So far, Richard Stallman has the following events this month: * November 10, 2018, Burgos, Spain, ["Libertad de usuario, libertad del lector"](https://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20181110-burgos) * November 12, 2018, Madrid, Spain, ["¿El software que usas deniega tu libertad?"](https://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20181112-madrid) * November 23, 2018, Madrid, Spain, ["Soberania tecnológica, privacidad y democracia"](https://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20181123-madrid) ### Other FSF and free software events * November 3, 2018, Bristol, UK, [John Sullivan, "How can free communication tools win?"](https://www.fsf.org/events/john-sullivan-how-can-free-communication-tools-win-freenode-live-bristol-uk) * November 9, 2018, Seattle, WA, [SeaGL 2018](https://www.fsf.org/events/conference-20181109-seagl-seattle) * November 9, 2018, Seattle, WA, [Molly de Blanc, "Insecure Connections: Love and mental health in our digital lives"](https://www.fsf.org/events/insecure-connections-love-and-mental-health-in-our-digital-lives-seagl-seattle-wa) * November 9, 2018, Seattle, WA, [Rubén Rodríguez, "Freedom and privacy in the Web: Fighting licensing, tracking, fingerprinting and other issues, from both sides of the cable"](https://www.fsf.org/events/ruben-rodriguez-20181109-seattle-seagl) * November 23, 2018, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, [GNU Health Con 2018](https://www.fsf.org/events/event-20181123-laspalmas-gnuhealthcon) ### Thank GNUs! We appreciate everyone who donates to the Free Software Foundation, and we'd like to give special recognition to the folks who have donated $500 or more in the last month. * This month, a big Thank GNU to: * Christopher Padovano * Christopher Samuel * Colin Carr * John Trudeau * René Genz * Rich Haase * Tom Gedra * Trevor Spiteri You can add your name to this list by donating at . ### Take action with the FSF! Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at . If you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email signature like: I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! The FSF is always looking for volunteers (). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaigns section () and take action on software patents, Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), free software adoption, OpenDocument, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and more. ### Copyright © 2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit .